A. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a tack, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a tack for hanging an article from a wall.
B. Description of the Prior Art
In the normal practice of hanging articles, such as pictures, from a wall, a cord or wire that is affixed to the picture or to the frame in which it is mounted is supported from a hook anchored to the wall.
Numerous innovations for hooks for hanging articles from a wall have been provided in the prior art that will be discussed below. Even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they each differ in structure and/or operation and/or purpose from the present invention.
(1) U.S. Pat. No. 674,438 to Edmundson.
U.S. Pat. No. 674,438 issued to Edmundson on May 21, 1901 teaches a picture hook including a plate with a lower hooked end and a forwardly projecting extension at its upper end bent back upon itself to form a guiding lip. The extension and plate are provided with aligning perforations for the insertion of pins or nails.
(2) U.S. Pat. No. 992,203 to Johnson.
U.S. Pat. No. 992,203 issued to Johnson on May 16, 1911 teaches a picture hanger including a pair of inner and outer parallel plates secured together in contact with each other. Each plate has a perforation therein. The perforation in the outer plate is in vertical alignment with, and slightly above, the perforations in the inner plate.
(3) U.S. Pat. No. 1,560,029 to Erickson.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,560,029 issued to Erickson on Nov. 3, 1925 teaches a hanger including a body member having an annular flange, a yieldable disk seated within the annular flange and adhesively secured to the back of the body member, an adhesive surface formed on the exterior face of the disk, and a supporting hook stamped from the body member and extending from the front of the body member.
(4) U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,368 to Frey.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,317,368 issued to Frey on Jul. 9, 1940 teaches a hook device including a web and provided at one end forming the top of the device with a nail-receiving apparatus whereby the device is adapted to be secured to a wall. The web at the other end is bent outwardly and upwardly to form a hook open at the top. The hook is partially enclosed at the sides by integral portions extending upwardly from the bottom thereof and provided with vertically extending tapered slots adapted to receive, and frictionally hold, a picture wire against slippage when wedged therein.
(5) U.S. Pat. No. 2,330,373 to Moore.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,330,373 issued to Moore on Jan. 27, 1942 teaches a picture hook including a strip of stiff material having a normally vertical mid-portion and a lower portion bent upward tp make an acute angle with the mid-portion, an inturned flange at the extremity of the lower portion of the strip, and a piece of relatively soft frictional material fitted against the inner face of the lower portion between the bend and the inturned flange.
(6) U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,651 to Passer.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,298,651 issued to Passer on Mar. 7, 1966 teaches a wall hanger for suspending an article from a wall. The hanger is formed from a single piece of sheet metal and includes a flat plate and a pair of pointed slender tines integral with the plate. Each tine has a base joined to the plate. The bases of the tines are laterally spaced-apart on the plate and located intermediate the ends of the plate. Each tine projects rearwardly from the plate with its base generally perpendicular to the plate and the tine has an uninterrupted sweeping arc of large radius. The tip of each tine lies along a chord running from the tip to the base perpendicular to the plate. The tip of each tine forms an interior angle of slightly less than 90° to a plane perpendicular to the chord. The tines are laterally outwardly concave and downwardly concave whereby the tines are compoundly curved. An upwardly facing hook is integral with the plate and projects forwardly therefrom, whereby when the hanger is fixed to a wall by the insertion of the tines into the interior of a wall as by thumb pressure, the tines follow a curved path and assume a more arcuate curled configuration, thereby resisting removal from the wall.
(7) U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,211 to Topf.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,912,211 issued to Topfon Oct. 14, 1975 teaches a picture hook including a generally flat body with a depending leg having a hooked lower end portion from which a picture may be hung when the hook is mounted on a wall. An aperture in the central portion of the body receives a fastener for securing the picture hook to the wall and upper and lower lips formed in the body around the aperture serve to guide the fastener into the wall at a preselected angle. The upper lip projects rearwardly and downwardly from the body to define the upper edge of the aperture and the lower lip extends upwardly and forwardly from the body to define the lower edge of the aperture. A crescent-shaped indentation in the front side of the body above the aperture receives the upper portion of the head of the fastener so the latter is disposed out-of-the-way to avoid interfering with the hanging of the picture.
(8) U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,048 to Einhorn.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,017,048 issued to Einhorn on Apr. 12, 1977 teaches a base member of a push pin formed by casting or molding, and a pin inserted pointed end first into a hole in the base member and forced through the base member until the end opposite thereof lies below the surface of the base member. The material of the base member is then flowed over the end of the pin by mechanical or heat techniques to form a substantially complete layer over the end of the pin within the base member. The pins preferably extend at an acute angle to a flat surface of the base member. The push pin may have pins extending from opposite surfaces thereof, a loop shaped projection adapted to be affixed to a wire, or a hinge separating the base member into a hook portion and a portion carrying one or more pins. The push pin may have a contoured base member to facilitate the affixing of a picture wire to a hook formed on the base member. In another embodiment, the push pin has a projection on the side thereof through which the pin extends. The projection has a rounded contour adjacent the pin, a radially outer surface, and an intermediate axially extending section between the rounded surface and the radially outer portion. The push pin may be formed with a pivoted lever to serve as a wire clamp. For picture hanging purposes, the push pin may include a pair of pins extending from opposite sides of an elongated member and through projections. The elongated member has a saw tooth edge. The planes of the saw tooth edge and the side of the elongated member adjacent thereto extend at an angle corresponding to portions of a nail extending at an angle in the wall in order to facilitate the hanging of a picture on the wall.
(9) U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,430 to Hogg.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,619,430 issued to Hogg on Oct. 28, 1986 teaches a device, such as a picture frame hanger, for supporting a flexible, elongated article, such as a picture frame having a convex lip fastened to a backplate so that an arched groove and a circular contact area are formed. The flexible, elongated article hangs on the curved top surface of the contact area and freely from either side of the arched groove and presses against the backplate when seated within the groove. The device can be anchored to a wall or other suitable surface in a manner preventing the twisting or movement thereof under load or contact.
(10) U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,697 to Treanor et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,018,697 issued to Treanor et al. on May 28, 1991 teaches a hanger for suspending objects, such as framed pictures and knickknacks, for use on building interior wall surfaces of semi-permeable composition, such as drywall. The hanger attaches to drywall by a straight pin instead of nails or screws, thereby dramatically reducing the hole size remaining when the hanger is removed. The hanger includes a body connected to a hanger inserter by a hinge. A pin is inserted in an aperture formed through the body. The head of the pin is positioned in a channel created by a recessed U-shaped arcing groove in the inserter. The groove has a concave curvature matching the convex curvature of the pinhead. By applying force to the inserter push surface, the inserter rotates downward about the hinge and the pin penetrates the drywall. The hanger is used for suspending objects on a wall surface. The hanger is removed by pulling upward and away from the wall by gripping the body side surfaces.
(11) U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,718 to Sheehan.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,267,718 issued to Sheehan on Dec. 7, 1993 teaches a single piece hanger structure having rearwardly extending prongs for mounting the hanger to a wall and a forwardly directed hump situated between upper and lower sets of the prongs to define a prying gap that may be used to pry the hanger from the wall without substantially damaging the wall.
(12) U.S. Pat. No. Des. 422,892 to Donovan.
U.S. Pat. No. Des. 422,892 issued to Donovan on Apr. 18, 2000 teaches the ornamental design for a wall hanger.
(13) U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,680 to Week et al.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,629,680 issued to Weck et al. on Oct. 7, 2003 teaches a picture hanger having a metal base from which is stamped a tongue for receiving a wire of a picture frame hung on a wall. The tongue has a convex shape with respect to a front face 14 of the base and a ledge thereof on which the wire rests bears against a protrusion extending from the base front face. The tongue has bends with progressively increasing angles as it extends away from the base.
It is apparent that numerous innovations for hooks for hanging articles from a wall have been provided in the prior art that are adapted to be used. Furthermore, even though these innovations may be suitable for the specific individual purposes to which they address, they would not be suitable for the purposes of the present invention as heretofore described.